Story+1995-11-21+New+Brunswick,+NJ

´´Thank you very much, good evening....I got a couple of requests before I go on....one is, uh, these songs were, a lot of songs tonight were composed with a lot of silence so, uh.... for me to give you my best, I need a lot of quiet during the course of the evening, course of the tunes, uh, if you happen to know the words to some of these songs, I appreciate it, singing along, not....feeling like clapping along - a train wreck, ok (chuckles)....uh....so, all I´m saying is I could use your help....to give you the best that I can give you so that said....that said, uh, that´ll keep me from having to come out in the crowd and slap a few people around and ruin my nice guy image, alright....(someone whistles) it goes for whistling too, pal.... ”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Adam Raised a Cain´**

´´Thanks, uh....this is, uh....this is a song from the new album, it´s come out today....it´s fun for the whole family....this is a....song about a fella who gets out of prison and....trying to, uh ....integrate himself, I guess, back into his family and....the world at large, this is called ´Straight Time´....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Straight Time´**

´´Thanks a lot, this is uh....did they tell you it was gonna be a rehearsal ?....oh shit !....if you´re gonna fuck up, might as well do it in front of friends....this next song, this is uh, it´s a song called ´Highway 29´, I guess it´s the only, uh, only recent rock song that has as its protagonist a shoe-salesman.....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Highway 29´**

´´(people shout out requests) What do I look like ? A jukebox ?....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Darkness on the Edge of Town´**

´´Thanks, this is a....this is a song sort of about....the price of doing business, I guess.....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Murder Incorporated´**

´´This is, uh....something I came up with in my bedroom about 12 years ago....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Nebraska´**

´´This is a song that, uh....first at the time it came out, people said (?) people said it was misinterpreted sort of like ´Louie Louie´ (?)....so I get a chance to, uh, the great thing about ....you get a chance to re-write the book every night so....so, let´s see if I can get it right....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Born in the U.S.A´**

´´This is a....song about, uh....one of those relationships where you can´t seem to get it right ....I had one for about, uh....mmm, 35 years....with different women....but it was the same one....it was really with myself....so, in hindsight....this is from the new record, it´s called ´Dry Lightning´....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Dry Lightning´**

´´(tunes his guitar) This man told me to take my time, feels comforting, thank you....you get up here and take your time.....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Spare Parts´**

´´I really do appreciate you being guineapigs for this one (chuckles)...I used to do this, uh, actually when I was signed....to my first record deal, I was....I´d get on the Lincoln, Lincoln Transit bus in Asbury Park and I´d go up to Max´s Kansas City, this little club in New York ....and there was a guy who´d, uh....who´d throw me a few bucks on the weekend to get up in front and...and open up for a variety of different types of bands, was a fella named Dave Van Rohn at the time and, and, uh, a lot of good people, lot of good people....so, uh....I used to, I was doing this a lot at the time and....took a break, I guess, about 25 years ago, it´s just great to be back (chuckles)....alright....anyway, this is a song, uh....this is a song called ´Youngstown´, there´s a book that is probably hard to find but we´re trying to....I´m trying to make it less hard to find, a book called ´Journey to Nowhere´....by, the text is by a fella named Dale Maharidge and, uh, photos by a fella named Michael Williamson and basically it´s a book about what happened to the country during the, during the 80´s and (?) divisions that happeneed during the 80´s that are sort of continuing to happen right now as we speak... and uh....it´s a very, very good book, it´s a book called Journey to Nowhere, I think it´s gonna be back in print, I hope, pretty soon...uh.....it´s a book that puts real, real faces on, uh ....on a lot of those statistics...this is a song called ´Youngstown´, ´Youngstown´....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Youngstown´**

´´Thanks a lot, uh....(?)....that will unfortunately end up on the floor of my car on the way home but I appreciate (chuckles) hey....yeah, ok....the next, uh, these next group of songs were sort of set, set on the California, California-Mexico border....there was, uh, during the 60´s....the methadrine labs in California were basically run sort of by outlawed biker gangs and in the course of time the Mexican drug gangs moved in and hired....hired migrant workers in the Central Valley California to do the dirty work, which is, uh, cooking up the metamphetamine, which is a very dangerous job....so this is a song about two brothers who come up from Mexico....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Sinaloa Cowboys´**

´´(?)....this is uh....a song about a fellow works at the San Diego....a character who works at the San Diego border crossing....and uh, a lot of guys, I guess most of the, a lot of the guys in the border patrol come out of the army, end up working for the INS and uh....which is a very difficult, confusing job.....this is called ´The Line´.....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´The Line´**

´´There´s a....there´s a strip in San Diego...where the kids....they come running across the river and they end up, uh....in this place called Balboa Park, this is, uh, this is a song about, this is....a 13, 14-year-old kid comes across out of the border and ends up, uh....ends up hooking on the boulevard there in Balboa Park....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Balboa Park´**

´´This is a....this is a song, I guess, about the mystery, the mystery of human nature ... how people just keep going....and uh, that was always, that was always a funny....that picture, John Ford´s ´Grapes of Wrath´, at the end of it, you know...(?) I think he said that they re-shot the ending and uh....they´re in the truck and, and, uh....and the woman is saying, you know, ´We´ll just keep going´....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Across the Border´**

´´Thank you....wrote this song, I guess, uh, I think I originally wrote it for....I think the Born in the U.S.A record and for some reason....it might´ve been The River....but uh, it got left off ....it is my version of....that scene at the end of The Grapes of Wrath, here we go....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´This Hard Land´**

´´Thanks, uh, appreciate everybody coming out tonight and going through this....oh....this is a song, there´ll be a picture coming out soon, a picture called Dead Man Walking and uh....it´s about a man who, uh....who committed murder and, and....and this is his story, he sat on, on death row, it´s a picture by Tim Robbins and uh....I´m not sure when it comes out, I think it comes out in the New Year or at the end of the year....this is called ´Dead Man Walkin´´....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Dead Man Walkin´**

´´Thank you, thanks so much....thanks, when, uh....usually when, uh....when a good part of the country´s in trouble....or election years, you hear, uh....you know, there´s always candidates and people out there looking for scapegoats, trying, trying to blame what´s wrong with the country on somebody, anybody they get their hands on, it´s usually somebody whose skin is darker or he speaks a little differently than they do.....and uh, there are plenty of code words for it too....plenty of code words and you hear all about ´America for Americans´ and all that stuff....´Lady, where do you come from ?´....this is a song about, uh, in the mid-80´s, it´s about.....it´s about an incident that happened in, uh, Texas....in the mid-80´s, at the end of the Vietnam War, when a lot of Vietnamese refugees settled in Texas ´cause, ´cause the geography of the country was a lot like home and uh....this is called ´Galveston Bay´ and this is about....based on some.....on a fight between the Vietnamese refugees and Texas fishermen....”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´Galveston Bay´**

´´Thanks so much, you´ve been, uh, been a terrific audience, it´s very, uh.....thanks for giving me the room I needed, uh, appreciate it, a great audience, appreciate it....well, this was a song, uh, it´s my little goodnight song here, there´s a book called The Killer in Me by a guy named Jim Thompson, it has a sheriff in this small town who speaks only in cliches....a real smart, slick guy, goes around murdering all his enemies and speaks only in cliches....not completely in cliches but when the time is right.....so I said ´Gee, that´s an interesting idea´ (chuckles) and uh....I don´t know, here we go....(?)....he´s not in this song (chuckles)..... ”
 * 21.11.95 New Brunswick, NJ, intro to ´My Best Was Never Good Enough´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//